March 12, 2025

RIO DE JANEIRO - Day 4 - Copacabana Beach & Sugarloaf Mountain

You know I love a good beach! This is one! Even though it was man made. They filled in the shore line area to make the wide spread arch perfect for all the hotels and swanky residential towers across the street. The sand is a powdery and well groomed and the people watching top notch! Volleyball courts line the back of the beach and the most exciting games to watch are footy where they can only use their head and feet for shots. No hands!

After a couple of hours of Beach time we headed to SugarLoaf Mountain tramway. The plan was to be on top of the mountain for sunset. The crowds and weather did not cooperate and the views from atop were largely covered in clouds! The tram ride is two lifts in total and we did manage to see the City lights for night time views when we came back down to the mid point.

PORT DEARAU, FIJI - Naidiri Village

By Patricia Patrick • December 4, 2025
Today we went to see the coastal Naidiri Village that has recently won the Top Prize in global restoration, for their ocean reef project. The reef restoration was borne out of necessity to solve their dwindling food/ main protein source for the village, of fish. It was started by 2 of the villages rugby players and today is run by the local teenagers (mostly boys) in the village. It was great seeing how empowered and proud they were of their amazing efforts.

LAUTOKA, FIJI

By Patricia Patrick • December 1, 2025
The port agent offered several trips to areas around Lautoka . We chose the trip to Serenity Island Resort which included van and boat transfers and lunch. It was a really nice day enjoying the sun, reef, pool, turtles and amenities!

RIVER TUBING DOWN THE NAVUA, SUVA, FIJI

By Patricia Patrick • December 1, 2025
I organized a group tour for a fun day experience. We had a great day despite the rain that decided to join in. We started with a 45 minute van ride out through the city, into the countryside. Then we got in long boats and went up river to a waterfall, some swam or cheered on the guides to cliff dive. Then back in the boats to visit Sabata Village where 50 family members live as a community existing totally off the land, along the river. Next was a quick boat ride to our BBQ lunch spot. After lunch we got to tube down the river, through light rapids, for just about an hour. We ganged our tubes together with the guide - we had a chain of 14 in my group and the guides totally blew us away singing hymns for a good chunk of the journey. It was truly moving in that place with the rain drizzling and all of us linked together. Loved it!